George Morland's visions of rural life have had an unending appeal since they were painted in the late eighteenth century. Their narrative quality is combined with an accurate and unsentimental perception of farmer, country people and in this case fisherman. His treatment of atmospherics is superb, and the light breaking through the stormy sky falls beautifully onto the beach illuminating the fishermen as they unload their catch in a moment that is simultaneously staged and artificial because the painter has invented it and utterly true to life because the viewer will have seen it for themselves a hundred times.